This is the kind of historical fiction that I love to read. I've always had a passing interest in mythology, but sometimes it can be so dry! "So & So, son of Such & Such, did A, B, C, & D, had son Whatchamacallit with Whatshername who was the daughter of Whosthatguyagain?..." That's one of the reasons I've put off reading the Bible. Too many begats. But McCullough manages to work all of the necessary begats in, while at the same time still moving the story along, and further making you CARE. She brings these characters to life in a way that mere Mortals could only dream of. History and myth gives them names, but McCullough gives them LIFE. Personality, aspirations, hopes and dreams, conniving brilliance, worshipful adoration, undying loyalty, etc. These are the things that McC gives us and inspires our adoration of her. First, let me say that I wish I'd have taken notes when reading this book. Each chapter is narrated by a different character, and it's not always easy to keep track of who is who in the beginning, or which side they are on. (I said I have a passing interest in Mythology - I'm not a scholar with Heroes' names, important dates and country of births memorized!) This is the one thing that dropped this down to 4 stars for me. Granted, once I got to the midway point, I was just along for the ride and following everything without a problem, but getting there would have been easier if perhaps the chapter headings had say "Priam of Troy" instead of just "Priam" for the narrator.That being said, even once I was up on the who's who and which side is which, McC made it VERY difficult to pick a side to root for! She portrayed everything so realistically that there is no "right" side to an impartial judge; rather "right" is dependent on which King you serve and which version of the story you get from them. Much like wars today *cough*, the Greeks' war against Troy was less for the proclaimed scapegoat reason and more for profit and political gain (read: land and money). Come to think of it, we're quickly coming up on 10 years too... But I digress. I was surprised by the humor and modernity in this book. Odysseus especially was fairly snarky and at times I felt like he would just step out of the pages and start pulling strings everywhere. I got a few chuckles out of him. I liked that while the feel of the book was true to the traditional story, it did feel updated and accessible to everyone- not just mythology buffs. I also appreciated that the magic and the miracles were left open to interpretation. There is always a plausible scientific, or at least non-magical, explanation for miraculous events. That's a fine line to walk, actually, to say "Here's a possibility" but not try to sell it or convince us. I appreciate McC for being able to do that well, and for doing it at all. Too often authors want to spread their opinions like little seeds, hoping that they will take root in someone else. It's a rare thing for an author to write a book without a stance. I also enjoyed the fact that there was homosexuality and bisexuality in the book, but that it wasn't done in such a way as to be a slur or a joke. It was simply presented as an everyday occurrence and accepted. Too bad that's relegated to history, we could use a little of that mindset now. Speaking of which, my four favorite characters in the book were portrayed as bisexual and gay: Diomedes, Odysseus, and Achilles (bi) and Patrokles (gay). I loved how these men were able to be Men (RAWR!) on the battlefield but then off the field share a part of themselves with another man that men of today wouldn't dream of. Get your mind out of the gutters! I mean their feelings, not their tools. Really though, knowing that these men were gay did not make me feel any differently about them as warriors - and I love warriors. If anything, it made me respect them more for their duality. They were able to truly love and be loved by men, yet go out and kill hordes of them daily. Crazy. I notice that my favorite characters are all Greek, which is interesting because I am still very undecided as to which ideological side I wanted to win the war. I mean, obviously I knew which side would win, but there is a part of me that just loves the underdog and will always root for the losing side. But neither side was faultless, and both sides were harmed by the other prior to war, so who is right? Conundrum. Anyway... I really enjoyed the book... It certainly is fuel for thought and shows that mythology is just as relevant today as it was 4,000 years ago. Give or take a century.
Tämä on neljäs kerta kun luen tämän kirjan ja edelleen, yhä edelleen tämä pysyy yhtenä ehdottomista suosikeistani. Troijan laulu on täysin minun kirjani.Vaikka tarinaltaan tämä kirja ei olekaan ihmeellinen, sen taikuus on täysin rakenteessa. Colleen McCullough on sitonut yhteen ällistyttävän määrän materiaalia, kertojia, tapahtumia ja tapahtumapaikkoja ja onnistunut tekemään niistä häkellyttävän yhtenäisen kuvaelman yhdestä antiikin ajan merkittävimmistä sodista.Tämä kirja kertoo monen vuosikymmenen tarinan lähemmäs kahdenkymmenen kertojan silmin alkaen aina Herakleen tekemästä palveluksesta Troijalle ja petetyksi tulemisesta, siitä johtavaan Hellespontoksen salmen sulkuun ja haltuunottoon, Helenan naittamiseen Menelaokselle, Pariksen ja Helenan salasuhteesta aina kymmenvuotiseen Troijan piiritykseen ja sotaan päättyen lopulta Vähän-Aasian mahtavimman kaupungin tuhoon. Kaikki tietävät, miten tämä tarina päättyy, joten mitään suuria yllätyksiä tuskin tässä päin naamaa tulee.Olen lukenut tämän neljästi ja olen varma, että tulen lukemaan tämän vielä useita kertoja tulevina vuosina. Joka kerta kun käännän viimeiset sivut minun tekee mieli aloittaa kirja heti uudelleen. Colleen McCulloughin kerronnassa on jotain niin voimakasta lumovoimaa, että minun on vaikea koskaan unohtaa tätä kirjaa.Ja edelleen lempikertojiani ovat Akhilleus ja Odysseus. Minua aina naurattaa Odysseuksen juonittelut ja vuorosanat ja hänen järjenjuoksunsa on todella kiehtovaa luettavaa. Akhilleus on selvästi myös kirjailijan yksi lempihahmoista. Hänessä on tietynlaista karismaa ja traagisuutta, mikä tekee hänen hahmostaan todella mielenkiintoisen. Myös Automedon, Nestor sekä Diomedes ovat kiinnostavia kertojia.Seuraavaan kertaa taas, rakas Troijan laulu. En ole edelleenkään valmis jättämään tätä kirjaa lopullisesti.Täydet viisi tähteä. Ikuinen suosikkini.
What do You think about The Song Of Troy (1999)?
Todella kiinnostava kirja! Antiikki-huumassani päädyin lukemaan tämän heti Akhilleen laulun jälkeen, mikä ei ehkä ollut Troijan laululle edullisin vaihtoehto. Päädyin jatkuvasti vertailemaan kirjoja keskenään ja vaikka teokset ovat keskenään todella erilaisia, eikä niitä varsinaisesti voi asettaa paremmuusjärjestykseen, Akhilleen laulu iski enemmän tunteisiin. Siinä missä edellä mainittu on katsaus Akhilleen ja Patrokleen rakkaustarinaan, Troijan laulu käsittelee kokonaisvaltaisemmin koko Troijan sotaa monesta näkökulmasta. Kirja todella maalasi Troijan sodan silmieni eteen ja nautin paljon siitä, miten tapahtumia tarkasteltiin monesta näkökulmasta. Troijan laulu jäi kuitenkin vähän etäiseksi, vaikka siitä kovasti pidinkin. Lempihenkilöni oli ehdottomasti Odysseus, sillä oi älykkäille henkilöille. Ah, sillä kaverilla leikkasi. Myös Helenan luvuista nautin, sillä vaikka kyseessä on käsittämättömän itsekäs ja raivostuttava nainen, olivat hänen lukunsa juuri siksi niin tavattoman mielenkiintoisia. Akhilleesta en paljoa perustanut, varmaan siksi, että Akhilleen laulu oli vielä tuoreena mielessä ja McCulloughin näkemys Akhilleesta ja Patrokleesta on sävyltään erilainen kuin Akhilleen laulussa. Akhilleen laulun ja Troijan laulun vertailu oli kuitenkin ehdottoman kiinnostavaa, sillä kirjat kattavat samoja tapahtumia eri painopistein ja eroavaisuuksia löytyy. Nautin pikku asioiden vertailusta, enkä tahdo erityisemmin asettaa kirjoja paremmusjärjestykseen. Näistä kahdesta Akhilleen laulu oli kuitenkin oma suosikkini, sillä se iski enemmän tunteisiin. Jos taas haluan myöhemmin muistella Troijan sodan tapahtumia ja syitä romaanimuodossa, tartun Troijan lauluun. Hieno, ehdottomasti lukemisen arvoinen teos kuitenkin kyseessä!
—Kirjaneito
Yet another retelling of one of the most epic stories in human history. I must confess I was sceptical about reading this given my familiarity with the story and my lack of familiarity with McCullough's historical fiction. All I associated her with was the old TV mini-series of Thorn Birds, which wasn't likely to win me over. However, a combination of an offer on Amazon Kindle and moderately good reviews on Goodreads persuaded me to give it a go, and I'm glad I did. This is a richly textured, well researched retelling of this oft told tale, using a diverse cast of voices. Many have criticized the lack of difference in tone between each narrator, and to an extent I would concur with that, but McCullough does better than many using this technique. The story is shorn of the supernatural elements of Homer's poem, but with due attention given to the superstition of the time, and the tension between the old matriarchal religio-political system which was, at the time that the story is set, was being supplanted by the patriarchal Olympian religion. McCullough also goes to some length to fill in the 9 year gap in the traditional tellings between the start of the campaign and the climactic events of the10th year, making sense of the subsequent Greek colonisation of Asia Minor. Some have also criticised her for smoothing out the flaws in some of the Greeks, for example the pride of Achilles and Agamemnon, making them more sympathetic, whilst making Hektor and Priam more arrogantly foolish and thus less worthy of our sympathy. But this is an authorial choice and makes sense of the storyline without making the characters simplistic ciphers. As for criticisms of the female characters, well, all I can say is that I have read much worse in this genre, and indeed the original tale doesn't offer much scope for stronger female characters without doing huge violence to the basic dynamic. But actually much of the secondary role of women in this retelling can be explained by the tension between the religious worldviews referred to earlier. No matter the criticisms or limitations this is a version of this story well worth a read.
—David Campton
I think I liked the idea of this book more than I liked the book itself. Getting inside the story of Troy? Sounds great! And in some ways it was. There were parts that were interesting.The problem is, that the characters just didn't come alive to me. It's always annoying when you have your character do the explaining for you, because nobody does that naturally. I'm not sitting here wearing woollen socks thinking: "she knew that in some cultures woollen socks weren't as common as in Finland. Smiling to herself, she thought about her ancestors and how they had knit thick grey socks for the cold Finnish winters...etc." Perhaps Colleen McCullough constantly finds herself giving little lectures about everyday things, but I really doubt if the Trojans did that as well. If the narrator wants to reveal some backround, there are better ways of doing that.Then there was the part that always makes me giggle, and I know it's not supposed to. Throughout the book, McCullough points out several times that homosexual relationships were very normal at the time. I knew this, we studied it in highschool history class (actually, my teacher was also enthusiastic about this topic). The first time this came up, I paid no special attention, but after that it got ridiculous. It was like she was saying: "Look! Homosexuality was VERY NORMAL! I'm such a modern person to include so many homosexual relationships in my book! Aren't I hip and awesome? LOL!"Yes, I think she really secretly wanted to say LOL.
—Helmisade
